Liz Benjamin

Posts by Liz Benjamin

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in New York City with no public events or interviews yet scheduled. According to Newsday, he’s supposed to deliver remarks to the Long Island Association and then meet with the paper’s editorial board.

Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker will testify before the House Judiciary Committee today, according to Chairman Jerry Nadler – a Manhattan Democrat – following a tumultuous couple of days where Whitaker threatened to not show up while Democrats prepared to subpoena his appearance.

Vice President Mike Pence is in Maryland at the Port of Baltimore, where he receives a briefing on Non-Intrusive Inspection Systems Program (NII) Technology, participates in a tour of the facility and observes NII Technology operations, and delivers remarks to U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees.

At 8:15 a.m., Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority, speaks at a City Law breakfast, 185 West Broadway, Manhattan.

At 10 a.m., NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio will appear live on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show and take calls from listeners.

Also at 11 a.m., New Yorkers with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and other developmental disabilities and their family members; direct support professionals and others rally to urge the governor and lawmakers to pay this professionals a living wage, Broome County Courthouse lawn, 92 Court St., Binghamton.

Also at 11 a.m., “The Capitol Pressroom” features City & State staff reporter Zach Williams, WCNY

At 11:30 a.m., de Blasio will make an announcement on the Bronx Plan, The Highbridge Green School, 200 West 167th St., the Bronx.

At noon, the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) is donating 100 bracelets/transmitters to Westchester County to use as part of its Project Lifesaver program, which helps protect individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and autism from wandering, Mohansic Golf Course, 1500 Baldwin Rd., Yorktown Heights.

At 3 p.m., the Westchester County state Senate delegation hosts a budget forum regarding the proposed state budget, Greenburgh Public Library, 300 Tarrytown Rd., Elmsford.

Later today, de Blasio will make a previously scheduled trip to Bangor, Maine to see his aged aunt and speak at a small arts center, which had been delayed due to a snow storm.

Headlines…

President Donald Trump continues to have a blunt message for upstate New York residents who are worried about the region’s economy: Get out.

Trump, a New York City native who has routinely denigrated upstate, said: “If New York isn’t going to treat them better, I would recommend they go to another state where they can get a great job.” (New York Republicans said they weren’t offended, and some even agreed with his assessment).

“Trump talking about upstate New York is like me talking about Antarctica, you know, I’ve never been there and I know nothing about it,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

Rich Azzopardi, a senior adviser to Cuomo, said the president is misinformed about the economic trends in Upstate New York since the end of the Great Recession.

New York lawmakers pushed both forward and back on Trump’s statement he is “open to talking about” revisions in the Republican 2017 tax law that placed a $10,000 cap on deductions for state-income and local-property taxes.

Lawmakers said they were making progress in their talks over border barriers, while Trump signaled to negotiators that he was eager to sign a bipartisan deal rather than declare a national emergency.

Democrats took the first cautious steps in their quest to obtain Trump’s long-hidden tax returns, further inflaming the contentious relationship between the president and the newly empowered House.

Trump lashed out against House Democrats, complaining that the system of checks and balances giving his political opponents power equates to “Unlimited Presidential Harassment.”

Queens Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez bent over backward to insist that being left off a special committee on climate change by Nancy Pelosi didn’t signal bad blood between the two — and that they were “100 percent” on the same page.

Ocasio-Cortez unveiled her long-awaited “Green New Deal” and quickly courted high-profile support for the ambitious legislative framework seeking to combat climate change and income inequality.

Trump’s attorney general pick, William Barr, who served as AG under former President George H.W. Bush, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, sending his controversial nomination to the full chamber.

Just 58 percent of Americans are against blackface — while 42 percent either condone it or are unsure, a new poll has found.

The news of former Michigan Democratic Rep. John Dingell’s death at the age of 92 shook the political world last night as memorials poured in from political leaders spanning his decades as the House’s longest-serving member.

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked a Louisiana abortion access law from going into effect for now, dealing a victory to opponents of the law who argued it could decimate “safe and legal” abortions in the state.

Since the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in July, abortion rights groups have warned of a threat to Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that made abortion legal nationwide, prompting some states to try to shore up access to the procedure. Anti-abortion groups have been pushing for more restrictions.

A U.S. Senate ethics panel that admonished New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez for taking gifts from a Florida eye surgeon closed the case after the Democratic lawmaker paid back their value.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia told a top aide in a conversation in 2017 that he would use “a bullet” on Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist killed in October, if Mr. Khashoggi did not return to the kingdom and end his criticism of the Saudi government.

Ronan Farrow says he’s also been threatened by the National Enquirer, explaining: “I and at least one other prominent journalist involved in breaking stories about the National Enquirer’s arrangement with Trump fielded similar ‘stop digging or we’ll ruin you’ blackmail efforts from AMI.'”

Woody Allen sued Amazon in federal court, seeking at least $68 million and saying that the company’s streaming service had improperly backed out of a four-movie deal because of a renewed focus on allegations of sexual abuse on Allen’s part.

Cuomo offered New Yorkers a stark choice yesterday, saying that unless lawmakers authorize new tolls for motorists entering the busiest parts of Manhattan, fares and tolls for subways, buses, tunnels and bridges will go up by 30 percent.

State Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner Basil Seggos has announced that he will stay on as head of the department, reversing a previous decision to leave.

Virginia sank deeper into political turmoil today as another top Democrat — Attorney General Mark Herring — admitted putting on blackface in the 1980s, when he was a college student.

Herring released a statement saying that he dressed like the rapper Kurtis Blow as the Virginia governor, Ralph Northam, under siege over a racist photo in his medical school yearbook, admitted last week that he once blackened his face as part of a Michael Jackson costume.

Herring said he was “deeply, deeply sorry” but did not indicate if he would remain in office. He resigned as the co-chairman of the Democratic Attorneys General Association.

Vanessa Tyson, the woman who alleges Virginia LG Justin Fairfax sexually assaulted her in 2004, released a statement detailing her memory of the incident and rebuking his claims that the encounter was consensual.

The former mayor of Moscow has confirmed Trump met with officials in Russia in the 1990s to discuss a possible building project after archival footage of the meeting was posted online.

In a NYT OpEd, Cuomo lambasted the president’s “diatribe” in the SOTU about late-term abortion, calling it “part of the far-right’s escalation of its assault on a woman’s constitutional rights.”

The head of the Republican National Committee wrote to the State Bar of Texas seeking disciplinary action against Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat and 2020 contender, for identifying herself as American Indian on her registration card decades ago.

Vowing not to be “intimidated” by Trump, the new Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, said the panel will probe whether foreign governments had improper leverage over the president or his business interests.

Queens Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shot back at critics who complained that she didn’t show much enthusiasm while attending the State of the Union address, saying Trump’s speech was an “unsettling night for our country.”

Beto O’Rourke, the Texas Democrat whose near miss Senate bid last year catapulted him to national fame, said he would decide by the end of February whether to run for president in 2020.

Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar will reveal her plans about 2020 on Sunday at an event in Minneapolis.

Unless she’s partial to anticlimax, it seems likely Klobuchar will make official what’s long been assumed: She’s running.

A new audit from state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office says state-run gambling treatment has not been offered in large areas of the state, including those with new state-sanctioned gambling outlets.

A lawyer for the Buffalo Diocese defended retired Bishop Edward U. Kmiec’s handling of a case of alleged clergy sex abuse from Kmiec’s time as bishop of the Nashville Diocese.

A new poll is finding broad support for an annual wealth tax on people with assets of at least $50 million, underlining support for taxing the rich.

Williamsville Mayor Daniel O. DeLano Jr., who has held his elected post for just 13 months, is not seeking re-election to a full four-year term, clearing the way for a challenger in June’s village elections.

A group of business executives and former public officials, including past HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros and ex-NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson, have launched an investment firm focused on small infrastructure projects and other developments for government, nonprofit and education clients.

New York should not end its system of fusion voting that lets minor parties play a major role in the state’s politics, a slew of federal officials – including U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chusck Schumer – argued in a letter that’s being sent to state legislators this week.

“Here are some other reasons state revenue could be lower than expected. Most have nothing to do with Trump.”

American Airlines Group Inc. and British Airways will invest $344 million in John F. Kennedy International Airport – namely Terminal 8 – as part of Cuomo’s plan to modernize the airport with 90 percent private funding.

A federal judge in Brooklyn has refused — for the third time — to let accused Nxivm sex cult leader Keith Raniere out on bail ahead of his trial.

Cuomo pledged $15 million to continue a Rochester business competition aimed at startups in optics, photonics and imaging. The money will fund another three rounds of Luminate NY, now in its second year.

Plans for a seasonal weekend train service to the Berkshires in western Massachusetts are progressing, with a pilot program seeking to launch by Memorial Day of 2020.

The scion of a well-connected Big Apple family is facing a possible life sentence for the attempted murder of a cop — six months after the original case against him faltered due to a flubbed search warrant.

Auburn Community Hospital looked the other way when a doctor needlessly admitted patients, overbilled and often provided lousy care that led to one patient’s death, according to a federal lawsuit.

Aides say the president plans to deliver an “optimistic” State of the Union address that will highlight what he sees as his achievements, while laying out objectives for the coming year.

Hours before he planned to issue a call for unity, Trump was trading verbal barbs with U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Markets should “pay close attention” as Trump may sound more upbeat about the economy during tonight’s SOTU, but “many of his core supporters don’t feel it,” Horizon Investments’ chief global strategist Greg Valliere wrote in a note.

This is Trump’s first SOTU before a divided Congress. The new Democratic members – many of them women, and many of them people of color — are planning to send their own pointed messages to the president with their choices of guests and attire.

NPR host Rachel Martin asked White House counselor Kellyanne Conway if it was hypocritical for the president to invite an 11-year-old who has been bulled to the State of the Union, saying Trump has his own history of “cyberbullying people with whom he disagrees.”

The boy, Joshua Trump, lives in Wilmington, Delaware, and has been bullied because of his last name. He is not related to the president. The school changed his name in databases to try to fix the problem, and his parents homeschooled him for a time, too.

SKDKnickerbocker, a progressive public affairs and consulting firm, is privately urging top officials in the party to leave Starbucks out of the burgeoning feud with the company’s former CEO and presidential aspirant, Howard Schultz.

“The moniker ‘billionaire’ now has become the catchphrase,” Schultz said during an interview last month. “I would rephrase that and say that ‘people of means’ have been able to leverage their wealth and their interest in ways that are unfair.”

Four of Trump’s trips to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida during the first three months of his presidency cost the federal government nearly $14 million, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office.

G. Steven Pigeon, a longtime ally and confidant of top Democrats around New York, is reportedly sharing his knowledge with law enforcement in a bid to reduce or even eliminate jail time.

Former New York City mayor and potential presidential nominee Michael Bloomberg took issue with the $3 billion in incentives New York City and state are providing Amazon, while celebrating the company’s decision to open a new headquarters in Queens.

Trump’s company has fired at least 18 undocumented workers from five golf courses in New York and New Jersey in the past two months, part of a purge after reports about the clubs’ employment of workers without legal status.

Nuns have suffered and are still suffering sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests and bishops, and even being held as sexual slaves, Pope Francis confirmed. The abuse was so severe in one case that an entire congregation of nuns was dissolved by former Pope Benedict.

While more than half a dozen Democrats have declared they are running for president in 2020 or launched exploratory committees, it’s a significantly smaller crowd than the estimated two or three dozen that were once mentioned as would-be contenders – though it’s still early in the cycle.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, one of the announced Democratic 2020 contenders, has “got a boo.”

The NYC Department of Health is barring restaurants and bars from selling food or drinks containing cannabidiol, or CBD — a non-psychoactive compound found in marijuana that’s said to have calming effects.

As Democrats in the state Legislature continue a rapid pace of passing legislation to start the new session, the state Senate seems poised to advance another round of election and voting reforms, including approving the use of electronic poll books to administer elections.

A federal panel of judges has found that DEC’s denial letter for National Fuel’s Northern Access pipeline didn’t explain the rational basis for the decision. Vacates the permit denial and sends back to DEC for further explanation.

Charter Communications, the company that owns Spectrum cable, is getting close to a deal with state regulators that would allow it to continue to provide cable television, phone and internet service across New York, according to a state Public Service Commission member.

A growing list of public officials in high-tax states are expressing alarm that big earners are bolting to low-tax states as new data suggests some home buyers are moving in response to the year-old change in the federal tax law.

Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and more than 100 other newspapers across nearly three dozen states, rejected a $1.3 billion hostile takeover bid from a hedge fund-backed newspaper group, kicking off a battle for shareholder votes to determine the future of the company.

Also at 8 a.m., Gramercy Communications hosts state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli as its guest for the second installment in the firm’s Capitol View event series, Bull Moose Club, 150 State St., fourth floor, Albany.

Also at 11 a.m., public hospital nurses, elected officials and community leaders host a New York City Public Hospitals: A Call for Action and Justice rally, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, American Negro Theater, 1st floor, 515 Malcolm X Blvd., Manhattan.

Also at 11 a.m., mayors from across Westchester County hold a press conference to discuss the proposed elimination of AIM funding, Village of Port Chester Senior Center, 222 Grace Church St., Port Chester.

Also at 11 a.m., the state Senate is in session, Senate Chambers, state Capitol, Albany.

At 11:30 a.m., members of the Upstate Downstate Housing Alliance, Assemblywomen Maritza Davila, Diana Richardson and Pamela Hunter, and state Sens. Julia Salazar and Jessica Ramos attend a press conference with the Women of Color Caucus to highlight the disproportionate impact weak housing laws have on women, Million Dollar Staircase, state Capitol, Albany.

At noon, professional drivers from New York City caravan to Albany to denounce the congestion surcharge that went into effect on Saturday for taxi and for-hire-vehicle rides in Manhattan’s central business district, state Capitol, Albany.

At 1 p.m., lawmakers, advocates and homeowners call on Cuomo to dedicate $20 million in funding to Communities First to continue critical services for vulnerable homeowners, Million Dollar Staircase, state Capitol, Albany.

Also at 1 p.m., the Repeal the Blindfold Coalition – a statewide organization of grassroots groups, victims of the antiquated discovery law, defense attorneys, retired law enforcement officers, labor unions and advocacy groups – call for passage of the Discovery for Justice Reform Act, outside the state Senate chamber, 3rd Fl., state Capitol, Albany.

At 6 p.m., Diaz speaks as part of the Metropolitan College of New York’s School of Public Affairs and Administration’s “Urban Dialogue” series, MCNY Bronx Campus, 463 E. 149th St., the Bronx.

Headlines…

President Donald Trump’s legislative path to a border wall has narrowed significantly on the eve of tonight’s State of the Union speech, and his fallback plan to circumvent Congress by declaring a state of emergency could create a major division in his own party.

Across the state, New Yorkers savored the brief respite from frigid winter temperatures, enjoying spring-like weather while it lasted.

Less than three weeks after he proposed his 2019 state budget, Gov. Andrew Cuomo raised red flags over slipping tax revenues and suggested that some popular items in the fiscal plan, including state aid to schools, could face cuts from what he offered in mid-January.

“That’s a $2.3 billion drop in revenues,” the governor said. “That’s as serious as a heart attack. This is worse than we had anticipated This reduction must be addressed in this year’s budget.”

The governor is blaming the Republican-backed federal tax overhaul that capped state and local tax deductions at $10,000 for the shortfall. He says it’s prompting many of the state’s richest residents — who pay 46 percent of the state’s income tax — to either change their primary residence or leave New York entirely.

Cuomo is not alone in decrying the SALT cap and blaming it for falling revenues. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has made similar claims.

Cuomo warned against adding additional tax tiers to the wealthy, saying New York already imposes the second highest taxes on millionaires in the nation. “This is the flip side,” he said. “Tax the rich, tax the rich, tax the rich. The rich leave, and now what do you do?”

State lawmakers, meanwhile, adopted a wait-and-see attitude over New York’s fiscal status, saying they need more information. “It’s still a little too early to determine what we can and can’t do, is this just a blip, is this just a delay?” said Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.

Escalating one of the investigations into Trump’s inaugural committee, federal prosecutors ordered that its officials turn over documents about donors, finances and activities, according to two people familiar with the inquiry.

Trump will nominate senior Treasury official David Malpass – a onetime Republican U.S. Senate candidate in New York – to lead the World Bank, according to two administration officials, moving to place at its helm a critic of the development lender and its internationalist principles.

Malpass is an outspoken critic of the World Bank and has pushed to overhaul its longstanding practices.

A Russian-born lobbyist who attended the controversial Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 reportedly received a series of suspicious payments totaling half a million dollars before and after the encounter.

Republican Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw — the former Navy SEAL who got into a short-lived television beef with “SNL” cast member Pete Davidson last year — tried blasting a few shots at Queens Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez via Twitter Sunday night, and was taken to the woodshed for it.

The head of the medical school whose yearbook sparked controversy after racist photos surfaced on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s page in 1984 got rid of the annual after he found pictures of students in Confederate garb.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg made her first public appearance since having surgery to remove cancerous nodules from her lung, attending a production celebrating her life.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello will attend the SOTU tonight, and he’s bringing a poignant message for the commander-in-chief from the hurricane-ravaged island.

It didn’t take long for members of the Patriots to start fielding the question that has become inevitable for champions: Will you visit the White House? Some have already said they won’t.

Yesterday, Nevada’s statehouse begins its legislative session by marking a major milestone. It’s the first time in our nation’s history that any state legislature holds a majority of female lawmakers.

Staten Island Democratic Rep. Max Rose hasn’t been in Congress for a month, but he’s already angry enough to dock his colleagues’ pay.

The Wall Street Journal: “Last week’s polar vortex brought another chilling reminder about the economic damage of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s shale-drilling blockade. His energy policies are hurting upstate and leaving New York City’s suburbs out in the cold.”

Queens Sen. Mike Gianaris, a leading critic of Amazon’s proposal to develop a campus in Long Island City, was nominated by his conference leader to a seat on the state’s Public Authorities Control Board, where he could ultimately veto state actions on the project.

Gianaris “will bring an important perspective and accountability to this board as it reviews numerous projects,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said in a statement.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is giving no signs of any intention to step down, despite mounting calls for him to resign and chaos at his statehouse due to revelations that a photograph showing people in blackface and Ku Klux Klan robes was displayed on his medical school yearbook page.

Virginia LG Justin Fairfax issued a statement denying an unsubstantiated allegation of sexual assault that a right-wing media site published amid extraordinary political turmoil in the state that has raised the possibility of him becoming the next governor.

President Donald Trump is picking David Bernhardt, a former energy lobbyist, to be the Interior Department’s next secretary.

Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes sued the Southern Poverty Law Center, claiming that the civil-rights organization has cost him business opportunities by designating the pro-Trump men’s group he created as a hate group.

Queens Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has invited the community activist who confronted then-Sen. Jeff Flake in a Capitol elevator during the confirmation hearing for Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the State of the Union address tomorrow.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a 2020 presidential contender, has invited a transgender U.S. Navy officer to be her guest at the SOTU.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, along with state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Budget Director Robert Mujica, announced that state personal income tax receipts are $2.3 billion below projections. The revenue decline was first noticed in late December and continued through January.

“This is the most serious revenue shock that the state has faced in many years. We can’t say that enough or emphasize that enough. That $2.3 billion figure, frankly governor, I think could get worse before it gets better based on the numbers as we see them,” DiNapoli said.

Cuomo said the federal cap on state and local tax deductions – known as SALT – are largely to blame for the drop. “This is worst than we anticipated,” he said.

The governor says he’ll be making adjustments in the $175 billion state budget proposal he recently unveiled, but didn’t provide specifics. He has until mid-February to make budget amendments.

The state Senate Democrats chose one of the most vocal critics of the Amazon HQ2 deal, Queens Sen. Michael Gianaris, to represent them as one of three voting members of the Public Authorities Control Board. Any voting member of the board has the power to block projects that come before it.

Moody’s Investors Service, which has given high marks for Cuomo’s handling of state finances, warns in a report to investors that income tax collections were “down sharply” in December, as in other states, in what analyst are calling “December surprises.”

A day after a group of people were pepper-sprayed while protesting the inhumane conditions inside a federal jail in Brooklyn, public defenders have sued the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the jail’s warden, Herman Quay, alleging that they had violated the constitutional rights of those incarcerated there.

Attorneys said there was a “humanitarian crisis” at the jail, where a heating system breakdown and a power failure led to inmates being locked down in frigid and dark cells. (Read the suit here).

Sen. Luis Sepulveda said he was “shocked” at the conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center, but acknowledged the state had limited recourse because the prison is federally operated.

Troy City Council member Mark McGrath resigned today, a little over a week after the Times Union published an article about a voicemail in which McGrath can be heard using racial slurs.

State Police responded to nearly 1,100 crashes and issued more than 600 travel ban tickets during last week’s snowstorm, officials announced.

Cuomo today announced the launch of NYS Rent Connect, a new online service that modernizes and simplifies New Yorkers’ interaction with the rent regulation system.

The NYC subway has come a long way since the dark days of the 1980s and 1990s when violence was rampant and riders felt constant dread. But lately, riders are starting to feel less safe – a belief that is often reinforced by a flood of complaints about the transit system, doled out in real time on social media.

A 26-year-old man who police say is a member of the violent MS-13 street gang was arrested today in connection with a brazen murder on a Queens subway platform the previous day.

New York state lawmakers were just elected three months ago — but they’ve already held or scheduled 45 campaign fundraisers from January through early March, even though they’re not on the ballot again until mid- to late 2020.

Assemblyman and public advocate candidate Michael Blake did work for Hilltop Public Solutions in the two years before he publicly accepted and then declined a job with the firm, according to a review of the Bronx lawmaker’s state financial disclosures.

More than $250 million in funding for the United States Military Academy at West Point would be vulnerable to reallocation should Trump declare a national emergency, according to Democratic Hudson Valley Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney.

Actor Alec Baldwin says he thought the man who stole his parking spot last year — in a scuffle that led to the actor’s arrest — was “going to run over” his wife, Hilaria Baldwin.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in Albany with no public appearances or interviews yet announced.

The state Legislature is in session, and lawmakers are expected to have another busy week, with a number of environmental bills on the to-do list – including a measure supporters believe would be an obstacle to any federal attempt to permit offshore drilling for oil and gas anywhere near New York’s waters.

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have their weekly lunch date at the White House.

Also at 10 a.m, state Sen. Luis Sepúlveda will address the human rights violations at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn involving lack of electricity and heat, state Senate hallway (near the glass doors), 3rd Fl., state Capitol, Albany.

Also at 10 a.m., the NYC Council Committee on Governmental Operations meets, Council Chambers, City Hall, Manhattan.

At 10:30 a.m., Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney holds events with high school students and inaugural members of his Seniors Advisory Board to give each group the opportunity to make their voices heard and make recommendations regarding relevant legislation, Haldane High School, 15 Craigside Drive, Cold Spring.

Also at 11 a.m., the state Senate Civil Service and Pensions Committee meets, Legislative Office Building, room 901, state Capitol, Albany.

Also at 11 a.m., Rep. Carolyn Maloney joins Jewish advocacy groups to call for federal support for holocaust education in schools across the country, Center for Jewish History, 15 W. 16th St., Manhattan.

Also at 11 a.m., Williams joins Millennium Development, elected officials, and the community for a ribbon cutting to celebrate the grand re-opening of the Midwood Neighborhood Senior Center at a new location, 2164 Ralph Ave., Brooklyn.

At 11:15 a.m., Citizen Action-New York, JustLeadershipUSA, New York Communities for Change, VOCAL-NY, Public Defenders, Members of the #FreeNewYork Campaign rally to call on the legislature to immediately pass laws reforming discovery and speedy trial processes and ending money bail, state Capitol, Third Fl., Albany.

At noon, the state Senate Local Government Committee meets, Legislative Office Building, room 801, state Capitol, Albany.

Also at noon, more than 200 parents, child care providers, educators, faith leaders, and labor advocates from across the state express their frustration and growing impatience over the lack of adequate funding for New York’s child care system, Million Dollar Staircase, 3rd Fl., state Capitol, Albany.

Also at noon, members of the Trump Campaign and Republican officials will join Manny Alicandro for the official announcement of his campaign for NYC public advocate, 725 5th Ave., (across from Trump Tower), Manhattan.

At 3 p.m., the state Senate is in session, Senate Chambers, state Capitol, Albany.

Also at 3 p.m., the Senate and Assembly will hold a joint budget hearing on the workforce development portion of the governor’s proposed 2019-20 spending plan, Hearing Room B, LOB, state Street, Albany.

The Washington Post aired its first Super Bowl advertisement, a one-minute long compilation of historic images and clips, narrated by actor Tom Hanks, that was meant to signify the role of journalists.

The only thing more mundane then the game itself was the Super Bowl halftime show — with Maroon 5’s dad-rock production getting widely panned on social media.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam met with top aides last night amid mounting calls from fellow Democrats to resign over a racist photograph, an episode that has pressured a party that has promoted a zero-tolerance policy against members who have been accused of bigotry and sexual misconduct.

The polar vortex that brought many cities to a standstill was expected to end with a rapid thaw that experts say could be unprecedented. But the sudden swing from long johns to light jackets and short sleeves could create problems of its own, including ice jams and flooding.

The snow melt is expected to challenge pedestrians forced to navigate large, sloshy pools of water, and threatens to flood basements and overtake rivers and creeks in the aftermath of last week’s blizzard. Even the lowest temperatures today should be above freezing, increasing the potential for melting and runoff.

Trump said he is unsure whether he would be opposed to releasing special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report, deferring to the attorney general.

The president reportedly plans to use tomorrow’s State of the Union address to promise an end to the HIV epidemic in America by 2030.

Hoosick Falls resident Michael Hickey, who exposed toxic chemicals polluting water in his Rensselaer County village, will attend the State of the Union in Washington as the guest of NY-19 Democratic Rep. Antonio Delgado.

Trump plans to keep United States troops in Iraq to monitor and maintain pressure on neighboring Iran, committing to an American military presence in the region’s war zones even as he moves to withdraw forces from Syria and Afghanistan.

Two influential Republican senators admonished Trump for squabbling with his top intelligence officials – with one calling it “troubling to all of us.”

The Pentagon said it will send 3,750 more troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to put up another 150 miles of concertina wire and provide other support for Customs and Border Protection, bringing the total number of active-duty troops there to 4,350.

Democratic Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard officially joined the race for for president on Saturday afternoon at a rally in her home state hosted weeks after she announced her campaign on CNN.

Amid a series of high-profile campaign announcements in January — and with Cory Booker’s entry Friday continuing the push this month — another class of Democrats is lying in wait, sizing up the emerging field — and hoping for one or more of the early front-runners to stumble.

Queens Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Chief of Staff Saikat Chakrabarti has praised his boss’s use of social media and communication, pointing out that she “changed the entire debate on tax in this country in a matter of days.”

Ocasio-Cortez and British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn held a phone call yesterday. “Let’s build a movement across borders to take on the billionaires, polluters and migrant baiters, and support a happier, freer and cleaner planet,” Corbyn wrote on Twitter.

A White House source has leaked nearly every day of Trump’s private schedule for the past three months, which show he has spent around 60 percent of his scheduled time over the past three months in unstructured “Executive Time.”

Pope Francis landed yesterday in Abu Dhabi on the first-ever papal trip to the Arabian Peninsula, where he is seeking to turn a page in Christian-Muslim relations while also ministering to a unique, thriving Catholic community.

A Republican member of the bipartisan group of lawmakers charged with striking a deal on immigration measures said Trump “would be forced” to declare a national emergency to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border if Congress cannot broker an agreement.

For years, the Department of Homeland Security has operated a fake university in the Detroit suburbs as part of an undercover operation that lured undocumented immigrants seeking to obtain fraudulent student visas.

Dan Janison: “When the Trump administration announced Friday that it was suspending one of the last big nuclear arms control agreements with Russia, it marked the latest in a series of withdrawals and threatened withdrawals of this kind.”

Power has been restored at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn where inmates have spent several days without heat or lighting, according to a statement from the Bureau of Prisons, which said: “Staff are working to restore the facility to normal operations.”

President Trump would not commit in a CBS “Face the Nation” interview aired today to making public the results of the special counsel’s investigation into Russia’s ties to his campaign, adding that it was time to “get rid” of the inquiry.

Trump, who called out NFL players who took a knee during the National Anthem, said “a lot of people” in the pro-football organization have been thanking him for passing criminal justice reform.

Trump, who three years ago ripped the NFL as being “soft,” said that he would not steer his son Barron toward playing football, calling it a “dangerous sport.”

Trump will call for a fresh political start Tuesday in his State of the Union Address, even as the threat of a second federal shutdown looms.

Layoffs for about 4,000 salaried staff at General Motors are due to start tomorrow – a previously announced move that comes just as Trump prepares to trumpet American manufacturing at next week’s State of the Union address.

How does the president stay so tan? It’s a Washington secret, and the source of much speculation.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam resisted the calls to resign Saturday despite extreme backlash over a racist photo in his 1984 medical school yearbook, which he now claims does not feature him.

Northam took back his words admitting he’d been in a racist yearbook photo — even as he fessed up to putting shoe polish on his face while imitating Michael Jackson during a dance competition in Texas in 1984.

As the calls for Northam to resign grow, the president of the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, the school that Northam attended and that produced the yearbook, vowed to review its past yearbooks in wake of the controversy.

Virginia’s lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax, 39, the second African-American ever to win a statewide election, finds himself surrounded once more by the commonwealth’s painful racial history, and is in line to become governor if Northam succumbs to the pressure.

Deutsche Bank AG rebuffed a request from the Trump Organization in March 2016 to increase a loan for the Trump National Doral, a Florida golf resort, because of concerns about expanding the bank’s relationship with then-candidate Trump or his company, according to people familiar with the matter.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s longtime communications director Matt House was pushed out for allegedly having inappropriate sexual encounters with junior staffers, ending what was a nearly six-year tenure as communications director for the New York Democrat.

U.S. Senate investigators have evidence revealing the identities behind mysterious phone calls that Donald Trump Jr. had with blocked numbers during the 2016 presidential campaign – just days before he met with a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

The Democratic Party’s presidential hopefuls differ on their approach to policy issues such as income inequality and climate change, but on one thing there is almost uniform agreement: They’re all very, very sorry.

Medicare for All has emerged as an early policy test for the 2020 Democratic hopefuls.

Howard Dean, the former Democratic National Committee chairman, accused reporters of spreading fake news about Clinton during her 2016 bid for the White House.

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio took a shot at billionaire former mayor Mike Bloomberg, predicting he would be “laughed” out of the 2020 race for the White House.

De Blasio also threw his ex-boss, Hilary Clinton, under the bus for failing to connect with Democrats in her failed 2016 presidential bid during an appearance on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe may soon be another addition to the field of Democrats running for the White House in 2020, and said he’d represent a pragmatic choice with a bipartisan record. He’ll make a decision by March 31.

They may be running against each other, but don’t let that fool you: Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker say their 2020 bids for the Democratic presidential nomination won’t get in the way of their friendship.

Though he hasn’t yet decided on whether to run in 2020, Bloomberg is reportedly not only already assembling a highly-experienced campaign team, but also putting hundreds of millions of dollars into building a data-driven political operation that could became a “Koch brothers-type group for Democrats” if he opts not to get into the race.

Despite all the fame she has achieved, Queens Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has not yet been embraced by New York voters – at least not suburbanites and independents, according to a recent poll.

Los Angeles prosecutors said they have declined to charge attorney Michael Avenatti with misdemeanor domestic violence but will hold hearings on the allegations.

Cuomo directed the state Department of Taxation and Finance to waive late payment penalties and suspend collection for 90 days after the April 15 income tax return deadline for furloughed federal workers.

Inmates at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center have suffered for days without heat or power due to a fire that occurred during a wintry cold snap, according to lawyers and U.S. lawmakers who rallied outside the jail on Saturday demanding the problems be fixed and ill inmates moved.

“The situation is really, really a nightmare,” said Rep. Nydia Velázquez, a Democrat whose district includes the jail, after touring the facility. “It is like living in a closet without lights.”

Jail officials said Saturday that a new electrical panel was being installed after a “partial power outage” due to a fire in the switchgear room. Work is expected to be completed by tomorrow.

Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker formally announced via tweet, email and video that he is running for president in 2020.

In his video, Booker said he’s “the only senator who goes home to a low-income inner-city community.” His team hopes that will set him apart in the 2020 primary, as much as his veganism, his bachelorhood, his colorful Twitter feed, or his legendary rescue of a neighbor from a house fire.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is also seeking the Democratic 2020 nod, has apologized to the Cherokee Nation for her decision to take a DNA test to prove her Native American ancestry, a move that had angered some tribal leaders and ignited a significant political backlash.

The federal judge overseeing the Roger Stone case is considering a gag order, saying at a hearing in Washington today: “This is a criminal proceeding and not a public relations campaign,” She also warned Stone against treating the trial like a “book tour,” and said he shouldn’t seek to press his case “on the talk show circuit.”

Trump’s fundraising efforts for his 2020 re-election campaign are paying off, giving him a strong early lead over Democrats vying for their party’s nomination. According to a filing with the Federal Election Committee, his campaign committee had $19.3 million cash in the bank at the end of 2018.

The House Democratic Women’s Working Group is urging congresswomen of both parties to don white, a symbol of the women’s suffrage movement, for Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.

A handful of New York state lawmakers are publicly criticizing Cuomo for his lack of specifics when it comes to his MTA-saving congestion pricing plan.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson says the pressure is directly on NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio to set things right in the city’s problem-plagued public housing system — NYCHA.

NYC Councilman Bill Perkins was taken into custody by the NYPD after neighbors called the police to report he was acting erratically in his Manhattan home.

“Fgotus. It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but maybe it should. The acronym — for first gentleman of the United States, a twist on Flotus — could become part of Americans’ vocabulary next year as more women seek the highest political office in the land.”

Crystal Boling-Barton, the polarizing longtime principal at McKinley High School, has been on paid administrative leave for more than a year and a half while under investigation by the Buffalo Public Schools, but her presence still looms large. For one, the school district has paid her nearly a quarter-million dollars to stay home.

The NYPD’s internal disciplinary process is shrouded in secrecy and shares very little information with the public, a bombshell report released today says.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed a new law that will lift the 1983 ban on surrogacy contracts — enabling New Yorkers for the first time to enter into a legal contract to pay a woman to go through a pregnancy and deliver a child for them through in-vitro fertilization.

In a final capitulation to a yearslong backlash, Cuomo is set to sign a bill the Legislature just passed that essentially guts the testing component of teacher performance evaluations.

Snopes, a fact-checking organization, announced its decision to end its partnership with Facebook, which has been ramping its efforts to curb misinformation on its services since the 2016 U.S. election.

Ross M. Cellino Sr., founder of the law firm that became Cellino & Barnes, one of the largest personal injury firms in the nation, died Wednesday in Hospice Buffalo, Cheektowaga, after a short illness. He was 86.

The heads of Cayuga County’s top law enforcement agencies have differing views of the “red flag” law passed by the state Legislature this week.

Health officials have now confirmed 130 cases of measles within Rockland County since October as well as 2 suspected cases under investigation.

More journalism cuts. Where will it end? (On second thought, don’t answer that).

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in New York City with no public events or interviews yet scheduled.

The Labor Department will release its monthly estimate of hiring and unemployment at 8:30 a.m.

Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence travel to Miami, FL this morning, where the VP will participate in a roundtable table discussion with Venezuelan exiles and community leaders, and deliver remarks at a Venezuela Solidarity Event.

NYC First Lady Chirlane McCray will attend World Read Aloud Day at The Stanley Eugene Clark School, where she will read to a second grade class – an event closed to members of the media.

Also at 11 a.m., Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, Assemblymembers Niou, Cruz and Bichotte will join Safe Horizon, survivors and advocates to celebrate the unanimous passage of the Child Victims Act: legislation that will raise the statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse in New York, Foley Square, Manhattan.

At 11:15 a.m., Brooklyn Councilman Jumaane Williams, a public advocate candidate, joined by elected officials, family members of police brutality victims and criminal justice advocates, unveils a platform to end mass incarceration and the unequal treatment of people of more color in the criminal legal system, Foley Square, Manhattan.

At 2:30 p.m. Sens. Leroy Comrie and John Liu, along with fellow elected officials, demand details from the MTA for a congestion pricing plan, LIRR Jamaica Station, 93-02 Sutphin Blvd., Queens.

At 4 p.m., state Sen. Jen Metzger and Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther hold a press conference about the impacts of the proposed cuts to Aid to Municipalities, Senior Center, 119 N. Main St., Liberty.

Headlines…

President Trump declared that he would not accept any legislation on border security being hammered out by a bipartisan committee of lawmakers that does not include funding for his border wall.

Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have hardened their positions on the wall, casting doubt on the prospects of Capitol Hill negotiations intended to reach a compromise and avoid a second government shutdown.

Trump said he has all but given up on negotiating with Congress over his border wall and will build it on his own even as he dismissed any suggestions of wrongdoing in the investigations that have ensnared his associates.

A pair of House Democrats called on acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to revoke Jared Kushner’s security clearance.

The U.S. Senate, in a bipartisan rebuke to Trump’s foreign policy, voted overwhelmingly to advance legislation drafted by the majority leader to express strong opposition to the president’s withdrawal of United States military forces from Syria and Afghanistan.

Trump accused U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats of being “weak and passive with Iran,” an insult that landed days after the nation’s top intelligence official contradicted the president’s views on the Islamic republic’s nuclear capabilities.

Trump is reportedly considering former Godfather’s Pizza chief executive Herman Cain, who ran for president in 2012, for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board.

One of Trump’s namesake companies has repeatedly broken New York state law over the past two years by serving as a de facto law firm for the President’s reelection campaign, according to a new complaint filed with the state attorney general’s office.

The president claimed that “time” will “probably” show he did the right thing by roasting his own spy chiefs over social media after they contradicted his rosy assessment of outstanding national security threats.

Donald Trump Jr. made himself an Internet punchline by spelling “SNL” with an ampersand rather that an “N” on Twitter.

The Roman Catholic Church in Texas released the names of almost 300 priests who it said had been credibly accused of child sex abuse over nearly eight decades.

During an appearance on the Christian Broadcasting Network, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she believes Trump claimed the Oval Office with a little help from God.

The state Senate will hold three hearings on climate change next month, marking a significant shift for the chamber, which had generally avoided the issue under Republican control.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to legalize recreational marijuana is stuck in the weeds.

“Being honest and saying six weeks may not be enough time to come up with regulations, deal with economic impact on communities and the criminal justice aspects,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said on Twitter. “And done right.”

Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, the lead sponsor of a bill to legalize recreational use of marijuana, said “we’re only about 50 percent of where we need to be with the governor’s proposal” on recreational pot use.

County officials outlined their concerns about legalizing marijuana at their recent legislative conference in Albany.

The county leaders are also asking the governor and state lawmakers to approve state funding for early voting now that it’s the law.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the departure of his hand-picked, public-housing chief — who he coaxed out of retirement to stem scandals over lead paint, mold and epic repair backlogs — in a deal to finally settle the feds’ suit over horrendous living conditions in the city’s projects.

The settlement meant de Blasio avoided the embarrassment of a complete management takeover of the city’s housing authority, the nation’s largest and oldest public housing system, home to more than 400,000 low-income New Yorkers.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hinted that she’s open to some new fencing but not a wall to boost border security, as President Donald Trump said he’s “not waiting” for a bipartisan committee to come up with a plan to avoid another government shutdown.

Trump said he will announce the time and place of his second summit with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un early next week.

The evidence against Roger Stone includes communications from his personal accounts that “span several years,” prosecutors said in a new court filing.

The federal government moved to seize more control over the New York City Housing Authority today under a new court settlement intended to correct years of mismanagement that prosecutors said had exposed hundreds of thousands of residents to lead paint and other health hazards.

Trump said that additional US troops are being deployed to the southern border to fight off an “attempted invasion of illegals” traveling in caravans.

Members of the Muslim community are calling on Nike to recall a shoe they claim bears a logo resembling the Arabic word for “Allah,” meaning God, on its sole.

Bill Hammond: “Even as Governor Cuomo pushes for required insurance coverage of in vitro fertilization, he is withholding a study of how much the coverage would cost for premium payers.”

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie suggested the legalization of marijuana for non-medical adult use might not get done as part of the budget.

Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz wants to repeal a provision in state law that allows parents to opt out of vaccinating their children if it conflicts with their religious beliefs, a move that comes amid New York’s worst measles outbreak since 1989.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics revealed that it has already taken a closed-door vote on whether to investigate Joe Percoco, a former top aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo — although it’s unclear exactly when the vote took place, or the result.

Jin Park, the first DACA recipient to become a Rhodes scholar, will attend the State of the Union address as a guest of Queens Rep. Grace Meng.

Don’t plan on waiting for NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, Staten Island Chuck, because for the fifth year in a row, he won’t be attending the annual Groundhog Day ceremony on Saturday.

Assemblyman Gary Pretlow is joining Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr. in calling for the state Gaming Commission to include mobile wagering in the final rules and regulations it approves this spring to commence sports betting at four upstate commercial casinos.

New York’s public colleges and universities are setting their sights on hiring 1,000 professors from underrepresented communities in the next decade, SUNY Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson announced during her State of the University System address.

Bronx-born rapper Cardi B, wrapped in fur from head to toe, braved the frigid elements for a quick court appearance in Queens on her assault case.

Cardi B asked her fans on Twitter if she should agree to address a group of Iowa Democrats while visiting the state in May.

The Mental Health Association of New York State is urging state officials to proceed cautiously as they consider proposals to legalize recreational marijuana.

A day after the governor called for the probe, State Police say they have assigned a team to investigate the claim that four middle school girls were stripped searched in Binghamton after school leaders suspected they were on drugs because they were giddy.

The principal of one of New York City’s top public schools, Brooklyn Technical High School, beefed up supervision of boys’ bathrooms this week after finding racist and anti-Semitic imagery inside them, emails show.

Nassau mistakenly eliminated exemptions for more than 750 military veterans on general tax bills that went out earlier this month, county officials acknowledged this week, as County Executive Laura Curran submitted a bill to issue about $176,000 in refunds to the former Cold War soldiers.

A proposal in Cuomo’s budget goes beyond restricting public access to mugshots. It would allow police organizations to withhold any “law enforcement booking information” about anyone who is arrested.

Tesla, which has promised to bring 1,460 jobs to Western New York, once again is backing away from its timetable to ramp up production of its new solar roof in Buffalo, now saying that it now expects to ramp up production during 2019.

The commissioners of the county Board of Elections formally delivered a thumbs-down to County Executive Daniel McCoy’s proposal to move the board’s offices from its current home off Central Avenue to a facility on South Pearl Street recently vacated by the state DMV.